The 17th September 1892 was a landmark day in the fortunes of Western Australia. With the sun dipping towards the west, a young prospector named Arthur Bayley rode into Southern Cross with 554 ounces of gold in his saddlebags. The last of the great Australia… Read More

Between 1860 and the early 1920’s, it’s estimated that some 2,000 Muslim camel-drivers were plying their trade within Australia’s vast interior. Having inherited centuries of experience in their homelands, they were expert in traversing desert terrain by… Read More

In February 1895, at the age of 21, John Aspinall set off from his home at Skippers Point on New Zealand’s South island, bound for far-distant Coolgardie. Before he boarded ship at Dunedin, he was warned ‘not to go on any account’. One old man ‘who h… Read More

The biggest day of celebration in the history of Menzies took place on 22 March 1898. A crowd of some 3,000 people had gathered for the official opening of the Kalgoorlie-Menzies railway. Two trains steamed into town within an hour of each other. The first was… Read More